A WORD FROM THE LORD

     TOPICAL VERSE: PS. 119:105

Ps. 119:105- Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

“Darkness is the absence of light.”  When most of us think of darkness we usually go back to our childhood when our fear of it was at its peak.  Even in the adult years of some—they dread darkness.  Most crimes are committed during the night.  Criminals like the fact that they are less likely to be caught at night.  Yet the most terrible thing about darkness is how the “Evil Forces of Darkness” use it to get an advantage over those who don’t walk in the Light, Jesus Christ.

The Word of God is humanity only lamp to detect and conquer the works of the enemy.  Human philosophy, intelligence, education, and limited wisdom are profoundly inadequate; they will only serve to help satan’s armies in their endeavors.  The Word of God believed by faith (Rom. 10:17), hidden in our hearts (Ps. 119:11), rehearsed in our minds (Rom. 12:2), and acted upon, will bring about results which will cause us to shout and dance for our Great God!  The light of God’s Word is so bright it will defeat the enemies without (outside), and overpower the inner me within.  Our life is the path we are walking.  Let us remember that electricity won’t help us, and human reason at its best is severely flawed.  Let the Word shine brightly in your heart, each and every day.    

DON’T DWELL ON THE PAST

Phil 3:13- Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

How many of us have not wished we could change things about our past?  Even the great Apostle Paul struggled at times with his horrid past of delivering Christians to their death (I Cor. 15:9).  But when he turned to Christ, the very people he once hated, he became their brother and one of their greatest supporters!  The enemy often threw Paul’s past at his face, for our brother was not an exempt when it came to testing, for even our Lord was tested but without sin (Heb. 4:15), yet Paul always looked to the future.  Paul understood the principle of pressing.  Although our past often comes to the forefront of our minds we must learn to press on.  When your past comes before you have enough of the Word of God in you to counter the attack, and then press forward!

Don’t dwell in the past, for how can we go forward if we are always looking back?  I nearly mess up one of the greatest accomplishments of life because of looking back.  My track coach warned me of the dangers of looking behind me while running in a track meet.  A runner is to never look back for it will slow down his or her progression forward.  As the anchor man with a good lead, compliments of another great runner on my team, I gave my opponent the opportunity to make an attempt to catch up.  We still won the four hundred meter eight man relay race, but I nearly destroyed a great moment in my life and the lives of others because of looking back.  So do yourself a great service: forget those things which are behind you, and reach for those things that will give you a better future in the Lord. 

PRIORITIES

Matt 6:33- But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Needs and wants will never cease.  Yet many want what they do not need, and need what they do not want.  The people of the world seek wealth, fame, and pleasure.  At a fast and furious pace do they set themselves to achieve maximum fulfillment.  However, such pursuits will end in vanity.  Even as Solomon realized his own fruitless ventures that caused him emptiness towards the end of his life (Eccl. 1:1-2).  He was the wisest man, second to Christ only, to walked the earth, but his foreign wives was the cause of him turning his heart from God (I Kings 11:1-10).  God gave him wisdom far beyond his natural mental capacity, but Solomon lost sight of his priorities and forgot God.   

Our devotional verse tells us the most important thing that all of us should be doing: seeking the kingdom of God, and being in right standing with our Creator.  Christian, beware of seeking for gifts more than the Giver of all good things.  The one way to avoid seeking God’s hands more than His face is to give God thanks in everything (I Thess. 5:18).  For even the adversity you or I may be facing is working towards our good (Rom. 8:28).  When seeking God is our top priority, He will give us those things we stand in need of.  He knows what we need, but He wants us to trust Him to supply those needs.  Do not let fear, worrying, or doing things your way get you off track.  Prioritize!  Let God be first.  

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Read- Ps. 37:8-15

Key verses

Ps. 37:9- For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

History will record this week as a victory against evil, for this is the week that Osama Bin Laden was intentionally murdered.  It took ten years to find him, but diligence and persistence paid off.  Many rejoiced when they heard the news, but many now have a deep fear that there will be reprisals for killing the man they loved to hate.  How should we, as Christians, view such events?  First, we should be sad that Osama and those who died with him were more than likely not in Christ.  Second, realize sin has such a stronghold on the wicked that they cease not to see their own wretchedness, which Jesus died for.  Lastly, wickedness cannot be stopped with a bullet or bomb—but only by the blood of Jesus!  This being said, there are thousands or possibly millions waiting to take Osama’s place.

Osama was but one man.  Evil has many faces.  Only the omniscience God has a working plan to put a stop to the wickedness that has held this earth captive for nearly 6,000 years.  Nearly 3,000 people died on 9/11.  Again, Osama was only one.  Killing him will prove to be no more than a mere distraction.  Let us see the bigger picture: the evil one, which cannot be killed with a bullet, is still on the loose.  Therefore let us pray that the hearts of unbelieving sinners will turn to the man that conquered the evil one, Jesus Christ.  A part of I John 2:18 says, “…Even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”  One down, but many more will rise up before it’s over.  America as a nation must defend itself, but carnal weapons will not win this war against evil.  At the cross is where sin was defeated.  Then trust in the work done on the cross is the only hope of mankind.

LIVE

John 10:10- The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

 They in our verse for today speak of the sheep of the Lord.  The thief is the enemy of God and man, satan.  The thief’s mission in life is to steal, kill, and destroy.  He does not want the believer to prosper in anything, so he will attempt to steal whatever we have from God: our joy, peace, godly ambitions, ministry, patience, perseverance, etc… the thief desires to take whatever we let him.  Surprised?  The enemy cannot steal anything from us unless we allow him.  God has invested in us; He not only expects a return on His investment, but commands us to protect the investment He has made.  God has given us life.  Not just breath, by the chance to live a victoriously!

 Living is not just breathing; but believers should be experiencing an undefeatable, unstoppable, and indescribable life of peace that is contagious!  The world speaks about living life to its fullest.  This is impossible without the abundance of life that is compliments of Jesus Christ, and Him alone.  It is because of Him that we LIVE, move and have our being (Acts 17:28).  Man cannot live without the only begotten Son of God.  If anyone thinks that this life is all they have they are sadly mistaken, and will be devastatingly shocked for their lifelong pessimistic view.  Jesus died so we might live.  So stop looking at your circumstance, situation, lack of, or past failures; and LIVE the overcoming life that Jesus died, and rose from the dead for me and you to have.  Are you in Christ?  Then, LIVE!        

HE DID IT FOR ME

  John 15:13- Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. No one could have done what Jesus did for us. He came to earth knowing His purpose and never settled for half-stepping, and neither did He think of giving up. Even when He knew the reality of being separated from the father for a moment in time, onward Jesus marched! “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me”? When our Lord said these words, God the Father had turned His back on His Son because of the sin of the world that laid on Jesus (John 1:29). It was at this moment the Son would temporally experience separation from His Father. There would never be another moment like this in time or eternity. Jesus did this for us.

Selfishness is in all of us to one degree or another. It is an undeniable characteristic of the sin nature of all men and women. Through his sacrificial and selfless act on the cross our Lord has shown us that we must defeat selfishness at all cost; even if it mean dying is the price to pay. So if He did this for me, then He expects me to do the same for my brother or my sister. I must say to myself, “Is it all about me”? If it is, then I should think of what Jesus did for me. When we think of how unselfishly and unconditionally He has shown His love towards us, let us unhesitatingly obey the commandments of our Lord. Do not be selfish, give and it shall be given unto you.

BE YE HOLY

Lev 20:7; I Peter 1:16- Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God.

God would never agree with sin because He is holy.  Sin stinks in His nostrils, and offends His glory.  The more we understand about the holiness of God the better equipped we will be to stand in an immoral world and say, “For God I live and for God I am willing to die.”  Holiness means that which is sanctified or set apart to the service of God.  Believer, this world has become a cesspool for unbridled passions—and a brothel to fulfill the lusts of men.  The world has portrayed our women as objects of lustful desires, and not creatures in need of God’s love from others.  The world doesn’t teach sanctification; it teaches self-gratification!

My fellow Christians, though it hurts our flesh to turn away its desire to partake in ungodliness we must by all means decline to participate in such unwholesome activities.  A powerful spirit of seduction has been released upon this earth.  Aspiring and desiring to live a holy life before God will help us defeat the forces of darkness who has unleashed this spirit.  Walking in the strength of the Holy Spirit is the only way to conquer this earth’s worldly system.  Furthermore, let us pay attention to the command of God.  The Lord said, “Be ye holy.”  He was not reinstituting the chains of legalism, which Jesus came to free us from; rather, the Father wants us to make choices and decisions based upon our desire to be what He wants us to be.  To “Be” denotes a state of consistency.  So, “Be” ye holy.”      

WHAT AM I THINKING

 Phil. 2:5- Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Many are losing the battle in their mind: giving into their insatiable desires, allowing feelings to rule their thinking process, or giving their emotions full right to lead them.  Our brains will do what we train them to.  A Christian who is not renewing his or her mind everyday with the Word of God is doing himself or herself a great injustice.  Yes we have many bad habits, but Jesus shed His blood and died that we might have good habits after turning to Him!  So either my thinking is the results of the old me before Christ, or the development of the inner me now in relationship in Christ.

When we are seeing thoughts in our mind that are not pleasing to God and we know it—do we entertain or dwell in them, or do we rebuke them and choose to think differently?  Only you and I can answer this.  But be it known that God knows our thoughts: “Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  4. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether” (Ps. 139:3-4).  If I don’t put myself in check, then who will do it for me?  God will only help me after I admit there is a problem, and be resolved about wanting the problem solved!  So when you are angry, someone has done you wrong, or things are not going your way, “what are you thinking?  

UNITY

Read Judges 16

Judges 16:20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

I often find myself meditating on the strongest human in the Bible, Samson.  The life of Samson could teach us many lessons.  It shows how lust and untamed desires could bring a person to his/her knees, or how we can be physically fit but spiritually and morally bankrupt.  Yet, the greatest lesson from Samson is obscured from a reader view.  All the successful judges of the book of Judges wanted God’s help in everything, and enlisted the help of their brethren to fight their enemies, but Samson decided to be a one man show.  He never solicited any help, or even mentioned unifying his people to bring about freedom from the oppression of the Philistines.  It was for this reason that when Samson thought his enemy would never enslave him, they did.  Not only did the strongest man of the Bible failed to create unity between his people, most of all, he aborted his unity with God!  “The Lord departed from Him.”

We sometimes make the disastrous mistake of trying to do things on our own, knowing that we could use the Lord’s great incite, or the helping hand of man.  If Samson was in unity with God the Lord would have warned him to steer clear of the whore for hire, Delilah.  Instead, He fell for her charm and he lost his sight as a result of his poor choice.  Moreover, history recorded his fall from grace!  Thank God he was redeemed; yet, it cost him his life.  Let us allow his blunder to teach us to keep our souls in constant communion with our human spirit who is being led by the Holy Spirit.  It is He who keeps us in unity with His Word.             

WORSHIP WILL TURN THINGS AROUND

Ps 9:17- The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

It is a terrible thing when a nation doesn’t seek God until it suffers a major disaster.  And to add insult to misery many will seek their “god,” and not the Creator of all the earth.  Idol worship is a prevalent problem of our time; especially since people have the right to choose who or what they worship.  However these poor misguided souls have no idea who they are really worshipping, the forces of darkness.  “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils” (demons; I Cor. 10:20).  Equivalent to a jilted lover, God takes rejection by those of His creation as a slap in His face.  He warned Israel that He was a jealous God (Exod. 20:5).

All unbelievers will one day stand before God, just as adulterers and adulteresses must confront their evil deeds and their spouse who they have wronged.  The first prayer God wants to hear from a sinner is the prayer of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Believer, we are living in the last days.  Let nothing that passes your ears surprise you.  The world doesn’t know it but they are headed for a rude awakening.  Yet, those who turn to Jesus Christ and worship Him will God turn things around concerning their eternal life.  Moreover, God will allow all things to work together for the good of those who put their trust and confidence in Him.  In conclusion, worshipping God will “Turn Things Around.”